Category Archives: Content You Can Use

This section will house special sections, reports, photos and more that newsrooms throughout ACM can use for their digital & print products.

User-Generated Content: Tis the season for reader photo callouts

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May is here, and that means one thing.

No, it’s not time to head to the pool and soak in some rays just yet. It’s time to publish a handful of reader-photo callouts in your newspaper and on your website. Here are some quick ideas for reader-callouts this May.

Promote these callouts on your websites, social media pages and also in print.

Mother’s Day: Ask your readers to submit a photo of mom and your children and publish a spread in the newspaper, and a gallery online. Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13, so you need to start promoting this callout now. Run the photos in your Sunday or weekend edition, or if you are a weekly, run the photos the week before or after the holiday. Make sure and ask those who submit photos to include first and last names of all parties pictured.

National Nurses Week: This one is also a tight deadline, as National Nurses Week is May 6-13, but it’s not too late to get your readers involved in your coverage. Use your social media pages to ask readers to give a “message of appreciation” to a local nurse who has helped them when they were ill, or when a loved one was in the hospital. Maybe they don’t remember the name, but that’s OK. Any nurse would appreciate reading these messages in print and online. Publish the messages in print, and maybe event use the special page provided by ACM Newsroom the weekend of May 12. Download the page here: http://acmnewsroom.com/2012/04/17/content-to-use-national-nurses-week-special-page/

Graduation: I know many of our publications have special sections planned for the Class of 2012, but when it comes to coverage of those graduation ceremonies and events, don’t be afraid to get readers involved. Ask readers to submit their own photos from graduation, senior parties, etc., and run them in print or online.

Spring flowers: Many gardens are now in bloom, and those readers with a green thumb love to show off their hardwork. Ask readers to submit photos of their own gardens and flowers, and run a special spread in print and online. You might wait to do this callout later in the month, especially at our northern newspapers.

Give one or all of these a try this month, and improve your engagement with readers through user-generated content.

CONTENT TO USE: National Nurses Week special page

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National Nurses Week is May 6-12, 2012, and ACM Newsroom has provided this turn-key promotion for advertising staffs and newsrooms.

To download the InDesign file, artwork and fonts, click the following link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?7llj46760njmajs 

To view a preview of the page, see below:

This special page has been produced to spotlight National Nurses Week by ACM Newsroom.

Reader Callout: Get your readers involved with your Easter coverage

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If you are looking for new and dynamic ways to provide some unique content for your newspaper’s Easter coverage, here are 3 tips for reader content callout:

1) Ask readers to submit photos of their children or grandchildren dressed in their Easter best, and run a photo page or two in the newspaper, and a photo gallery on your website the following Sunday or in your best edition of the week.

2) Do a Q&A video piece on what readers enjoy about the Easter season, and how they plan to celebrate. Or, if reader comments are hard to come by, do a Q&A video with local pastors on their view of Easter Sunday and what their message will be to their congregations.

3) If you have a local public Easter Egg hunt in town, that is a great opportunity to publish a photo page with lots of local faces, as well as a photo gallery and video online.

If you have any other ideas for unique Easter content, share them by making a comment on this post.

Cecil Whig publishes Book of Lists promotion

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There are people in today’s world who love numbers.

Some call them “stat geeks.” I am one of the geeks.

That’s why I love the promotion put together by the staff of the Cecil Whig in Elkton, Md., called “Book of Lists.”

It provides vital information and data for Cecil County, the region the Whig serves in upper Maryland. In the 20-page section, there is vital data provided including demographic and economic data for Cecil County in the past 10 years, as well as real estate transactions that took place in the region. There are also pages dedicated to health statistics and a rundown of the county’s largest employers.

These Book of Lists are big sellers to real estate offices, medical offices, chamber groups and visitor centers, and help attract citizens to relocate to a region.

Along with the pages full of information, there are also pages dedicated to advertising space.

For a complete look at the section, click the following link:
http://www.cecildaily.com/special/marketplace/page_c1970b22-4c36-11e1-9545-0019bb2963f4.html 

If your market does not already produce an annual Book of Lists, please consider adding it to your 2012 editorial  promotions calendar.

For more information, contact Ralph Bush, general manager of the Cecil Whig, at rbush@chespub.com.

To see a selection of pages from the section, view the gallery below:

Attention sports editors: Don’t forget to use free content from Athlon Sports

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As the NFL Playoffs wind down and the Super Bowl nears, sports editors around ACM need to reminder that content from Athlon Sports is free to use for their web and print products, and can be a nice addition to their sections.

For an example of a page from Athlon Sports, check out the photo attached with this post.

And for more information on content from Athlon Sports, email Karen Coleman with Athlon at karen.coleman@athlonsports.com.

 

ACM Newsroom releases Tax Time series

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ACM Newsroom has released a four-page Tax Time promotion for our newsrooms and advertising departments.

These pages come complete with content, ad spaces, fonts and photos.

To download the promotion, click the following link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?t64hgq5ec711t5r 

If you have any questions on this promotion, please email Rick Rogers at rogers@amconmedia.com, or Michelle Smith, VP of sales and marketing with ACM, at msmith@amconmedia.com.

Tax Time series to roll out to all ACM products this week

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ACM Newsroom is putting the finishing touches on a four-page, four-week series called “Tax Time” for its newspaper to use as content and sales materials for the upcoming income tax season.

Prior to launch later this week, we wanted to give you a taste. See one of the 4 pages with this post, and check back later this week for a post with full details on the promotion.

For any questions or comments on this promotion, please email Rick Rogers, director of product development, at rogers@amconmedia.com, or Michelle Smith, VP of sales and marketing, at msmith@amconmedia.com.

 

‘Tis the season for top 10 lists

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As newsrooms prepare for the weeks ahead around the holidays when it can be difficult to fill news hole, now is as good a time as any to begin preparing your top 10 of 2011 lists and checking them twice.

Here is a quick sampling of some “top 10″ lists your newsrooms could quickly put together during the week before and after the Christmas weekend.

Remember, it is best to present these lists in an alternative-story format. A paragraph or two about each event, with a graphic element, will not only make the list a quick and fun read, it will look eye-appealing on the page as well.

So, here is my top 10 list on top 10 lists you could do in print:

• Top 10 local news stories for 2011 

• Top 10 local sports stories for 2011 

• Top 10 national news stories for 2011

• Top 10 national sports stories for 2011

(You could present these in a countdown format… featuring one or two items per day to generate reader buzz and bring readers back to continue the countdown day after day, or present the list all of once. All of those are very simple to put together, and you may want to quickly get a little input from your readers and community by posting something on your website and Facebook on what they think the top local news and sports stories were in your community.)

• Top 10 “feel good” stories in your community for 2011: This one could take a little bit more work, but this would be a great top 10 around your Christmas edition.

• Top 10 local photos of 2011: This is a photographer’s dream, and would be a great visual story.

• Top 10 articles with the highest readership on your website for 2011: Again, could be a fun countdown and would be easy to access from your analytics.

• Top 10 local business stories for 2011: This could include local and national stories, such as the economy, a local business or industry opening or closing, affecting jobs, etc.

• Top 10 ways the world changed in 2011: Maybe a stretch for some, but this could be a fun list to generate. Technology would dominate this list, and rightfully so.

• And finally, a top 10 list of things the newspaper staff would like to see happen in 2012: These items could be something as simple as the city addressing the street issues around downtown; or to see the new high school construction be completed on time for classes to begin next fall; or for the football team to get another chance to win the state title. Again, this one, I think, would be a fun list to put together as you look into your crystal ball.

 

IDEA CENTER: 5 ways to localize the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor

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This year marks the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy. The base was attacked by Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves. The attack killed 2,402 Americans and wounded 1,282, and also sank or damaged three U.S. Navy cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and one minelayer.

As your newspaper prepares to cover and localize this national event, here are five story ideas or tips from ACM Newsroom:

1) Interview families of World War II veterans: With every passing year, the number of World War II survivors decreases dramatically, making it a challenge in many of our communities to interview and chronicle the veterans’ stories and experiences themselves. But, those stories can still be shared by their loved ones, either by a spouse, son, daughter or grandchild. Interview them and tell their story!

2) Interview your local historian: Find out who in your community might have played a role in the attack on Pearl Harbor, or in World War II. Let your local historian write a guest column, or conduct a “10 questions” piece with your historian on the impact World War II had on your community. This would make both a great print and digital (video) piece.

3) Visit the history class at your local high school: Write a first-person piece on what today’s students understand about the impact of the attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II had on the nation and the world. Share the students’ thoughts and opinions. This would also make a great alternative-story format piece for both print & digital.

4) Visit your local American Legion or VFW posts: If you want to find veterans, these are two great places to look. Conduct a Q&A with a local veterans of any war, on how being involved in the military and a conflict or war affects not only the lives of soldiers, but their loved ones as well.

5) Get feedback from readers: Put together a reader call-out asking readers and residents to submit messages of support and appreciation, and run them alongside your coverage (either local or national) of the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor).